Blue Devils Register 4-0 Win Over ETSU in NCAA First Round

Saturday, May 4

Knoxville, Tenn.

10 a.m.

Duke University

East Tennessee State

Photo by: Bri Shaw, Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Register 4-0 Win Over ETSU in NCAA First Round

5/4/2024 4:26:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Ashworth Interview Shvets Interview Photo Gallery

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 21st-ranked Duke women's tennis team opened action Saturday morning in the NCAA Tournament first round with a 4-0 victory over 65th-ranked East Tennessee State at the Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tenn.

Duke won its 30th straight NCAA Tournament first round contest and has won 32-straight individual matches in NCAA first round action dating back to 2016. The Blue Devils improved to 16-9 overall, while the Buccaneers dropped to 17-8.

Up next for the Blue Devils will be 16th-seeded Tennessee (19-7) on Sunday, May 5 at 1 p.m.

How It Happened

In doubles action, the Blue Devil tandem of Emma Jackson and Shavit Kimchi were impressive from the start jumping out to a 5-0 lead against Sofia Markova and Alessandra Caceres.The duo eventually took the court, 6-1.
On courts one and three, the matches were tight early, before Duke pulled away.
The Duke duo of Brianna Shvets and Iuliia Bryzgalova fell behind 0-1 and 1-2, against Jana Rovira and Ralitsa Alexandrova on court three, before winning a key deuce point to even the match, 2-2.The Blue Devils broke the Bucs on deuce to take their first lead and didn't drop a game the rest of the way.Shvets and Bryzgalova clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 victory.
On court one, the Blue Devil team of Katie Codd and Karolina Berankova also dropped the first game, but then won two straight to take a 2-1 lead.After ETSU evened the score, 2-2, Duke broke the Bucs on a deuce point to take a 3-2 lead and led 5-2 when the doubles point was clinched.
In singles action, the Blue Devils took the first set on four of the six courts.
Bryzgalova, a graduate student from Russia, continued her excellent play with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Rivera on court three to put Duke ahead, 2-0.The 110th-ranked Bryzgalova jumped out to early leads in both sets and never trailed in her match.
On court six, Berankova faced Julia Millan of ETSU.After falling behind 3-1, Berankova won five consecutive games to win the first set, 6-3.Berankova, a product of Prague, Czech Republic, also had to come-from-behind in the second set as she trailed, 2-0 early.She came back to even the match, 2-2, but would trail 4-3 shortly after.Millan was able to even the match two more times at 4-4 and 5-5, but Berankova finished strong by winning the final two games to win, 7-5, and give the Blue Devils a 3-0 advantage.
Shvets, a graduate student from Pennington, N.J., dropped her first set against Caceres, 4-6, but came back in the second and third sets to drop only two games and win 6-1, 6-1 to clinch the victory for Duke, 4-0.
When the match was clinched, Codd was in a tiebreaker with Rovira in the second set, after winning the first, 6-1.
Duke's Jackson and Kimchi were both in a third set when the match was clinched on courts one and two, respectively.

Notes

Duke posted its 81st career NCAA Tournament victory.
Head coach Jamie Ashworth improved to 69-25 in NCAA play and 27-0 in first round matches.
The Blue Devils moved to 30-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament first round action.
Duke has now won 32-straight individual matches in NCAA Tournament first round play dating back to 2016.

Brianna Shvets and Iuliia Bryzgalova are now 14-5 in dual match doubles action this season and 16-6 overall. They have won 10 out of their last 12 matches.
Emma Jackson and Shavit Kimchi improved to 4-1 on the year in doubles play.
Bryzgalova went to 14-9 overall this season in singles and 105-36 over her career.She is now 10-1 on the year at the No. 3 singles slot.
The Blue Devils played away from home for only the sixth time in Duke's NCAA Tournament first round history.
Berankova is now 2-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament first round singles matches as she also posted a win as a freshman in 2021 against Alabama.
In singles action, Shvets moved to 19-8 this season and 103-40 over her career.She is now 12-4 at the No. 5 slot this season.
Shvets clinched the victory for the second time this season and 10th over her collegiate career.
Sophomore Katie Codd made her first appearance in NCAA Tournament action as a Blue Devil.
The Blue Devils won the doubles point for only the 13th time out of 25 dual matches this season.

Quotes

"I thought East Tennessee State played a good match in doubles and singles against us -- they played fearless and hats off to them.I thought we made some adjustments with our doubles, especially at the No. 3 doubles and No. 2 doubles played really well and got off to a really good start.Anytime you play these matches, the doubles point is huge. Everyone is capable of winning quite a few singles matches and so to go into the singles with a 1-0 lead was big for us today." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

"You could tell that we hadn't played [in a while]. And that's always the worry. We hadn't played in almost two weeks and you could sense it - especially closing out games/closing out sets where you really need to be crisp.I felt like we didn't do a very good job with that. But the good thing is that we're in a position where we can raise the level of play by a couple more levels. So, hopefully we can do that tomorrow."-- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

"Karolina [Berankova] did a good job, after struggling a little in the first set.Bri [Brianna Shvets] same thing struggled in the first set, but closed that out. Iuliia [Bryzgalova] has been pretty good the last couple of weeks for us.We've relied on her a lot with those singles points. But across the board, I think we just need to be better tomorrow. We need to be a little bit more crisp, a little bit more focused and taking advantage of positions and situations that we've put ourselves in.It's going to be a battle no matter who we play, and, I think we're ready for that." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

"I want to give a shout out to our opponents today. They were really gritty, really hungry and I think they really showed up and gave it their all. I think that was apparent if you just look at our scores.I started off a little slow, but I just tried to keep my head down, stay positive, and try to neutralize my strengths and really just focus on trying to play my game and that was really helpful." -- Duke graduate student Brianna Shvets

"It was amazing. I mean, anytime you can step on the court, it's an honor and personally I had a little bit of nerves, but it's nice to kind of get that first match under your belts and I'm excited for tomorrow." -- Duke graduate student Brianna Shvets on getting the win in the first round

Next Match

Duke will face 16th-seeded Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament second round on Sunday, May 5 at 1 p.m., in Knoxville, Tenn.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWTEN".

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#21 Duke 4, #65 East Tennessee State 0
May 4, 2024
Goodfriend Tennis Center * Knoxville, Tenn.

Doubles
1. Shavit Kimchi/Katie Codd (DU) vs. Fernanda Carvajal/Daniela Rivera (ETSU) 5-2, unfinished
2. Emma Jackson/Karolina Berankova (DU) def. Sofia Markova/Alessandra Caceres (ETSU) 6-1
3. Brianna Shvets/Iuliia Bryzgalova (DU) def. Jana Rovira/Ralitsa Alexandrova (ETSU) 6-2

Singles
1. #83 Emma Jackson (DU) vs. Sofia Markova (ETSU) 6-2, 3-6, 4-4, unfinished
2. #63 Shavit Kimchi (DU) vs. Fernanda Carvajal (ETSU) 4-6, 6-3, 2-3, unfinished
3. #110 Iuliia Bryzgalova (DU) def. Daniela Rivera (ETSU) 6-4, 6-3
4. #102 Katie Codd (DU) vs. Jana Rovira (ETSU) 6-1, 6-6 (6-7), unfinished
5. Brianna Shvets (DU) def. Alessandra Caceres (ETSU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1
6. Karolina Berankova (DU) def. Julia Millan (ETSU) 6-3, 7-5
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3*), Singles (3,6,5*)